Today the Ubuntu Developer Summit for Ubuntu 11.10 has kicked off in Budapest, Hungary. It will be a while till we get a clear picture of what is in store for Ubuntu 11.10 “Oneiric Ocelot”. But we already have some interesting details.

Firefox will remain as the default browser

Despite all the talks in various blogs about the strong possibility of Chromium replacing Firefox as the default browser in Ubuntu 11.10, it has not happened.

One of the main advantage that Chromium has over Firefox in Ubuntu is that it is much faster than Firefox. This, coupled with the fact that Chromium has some nifty features that integrates it very well into Unity, are what prompted many to call for the inclusion of Chromium as default browser instead of Firefox.

However, Firefox still remains as the most popular web-browser (behind Internet Explorer). So, it makes sense for Ubuntu 11.10 to stick with Firefox as default. Moreover, Mozilla has recently announced that the Linux build of Firefox will be as fast as that of Windows.

Deja Dup might be included as default

This one has not been confirmed but backup tool Deja Dup is being considered for inclusion as a default application in Ubuntu 11.10. Currently Ubuntu does not ship with any backup tool and Deja Dup could be the front-runner if they do decide to have a backup tool by default.

Deja Dup can backup to the cloud and remote locations and encrypt the backups. However, the advantage that Deja Dup has over other backup tools lies in its simplicity. As Ubuntu is trying to gain widespread usage, this is a very important factor to consider.

Taking the final decision is however more complicated. Because of the CD size restriction of 700 MB, things like disks space is a very important consideration for any new application to be included as default.

[sources: 1, 2]